by Jo Barbara Taylor
EVE
of the Female Engagement Team
beams her American smile. Pied piper
with a rifle, she patrols a garden
of black haired, dark eyed boys.
They speak thumbs up, join the disciples
in her growing entourage.
A rock star in the bazaar, Eve greets
merchants and shoppers in Pashto
hello, how are you, how is your family?
Local men are rapt, enlightened
by this soldier-woman, uncovered
except for body armor.
Afghani women, burqa’d in blue
and red, like garden flowers
growing in ancient dust, stand
apart from this foreign version
of woman wearing a different
kind of camouflage.
Jo Barbara Taylor has recently published her first book One Or Two Feathers with Plan B Press.
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